Iowa Almanac
Iowa Almanac -- Monday, October 28, 2024
First in the nation, more from the Iowa Almanac in a moment. Election Day is Tuesday, November 5th. Now is the time to make a plan. Whether you plan to vote absentee by mail, in person at your county auditor's office before election day or at your polling place on November 5th, it's important you take steps now to make your plan at voterready.iowa.gov. Remember, Election Day is Tuesday, November 5th. Find more information at voterready.iowa.gov. This message presented by the Iowa Secretary of State. Ever since the first Iowa presidential precinct caucus in 1972, Iowa has become a popular place for those who seek the nation's highest office. Especially since a relative unknown named Jimmy Carter used a strong showing in the 1976 event to ultimately win his party's nomination and later the presidency. In those early days, the caucus was held in late January and for many years in mid to late February. But as Iowa's role in the process became more prominent, other states wanted to leapfrog Iowa and be first in the nation. That led to party rules declaring that Iowa would be the first in the nation caucus state and New Hampshire would host the first in the nation primary. But other states kept inching earlier and earlier and there was a real danger that Iowa would actually have to hold its 2008 caucuses in calendar year 2007 in order to remain first. On October 28th, 2007, representatives of the Iowa Democratic Party voted to move the caucuses to January 3rd, 2008, just about as early as possible, while still being in the year of the election. Earlier in the month, our state's Republicans did the same thing, continuing a 30-year trend of the two parties holding their respective caucuses on the same night to maximize national exposure. Despite threats, no other state moved ahead of Iowa and on January 3rd, 2008, 38 percent of Iowa Democrats chose a U.S. Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, as their choice for President. Edging former U.S. Senator John Edwards from North Carolina, who had 30 percent. Obama, of course, went on to win the nomination and the election to become the first non-caucasian to hold the presidency. The date for that historic caucus was set when Iowa Democrats moved the event to an earlier date to remain first in the nation, a decision made on this date in 2007. And that's Iowa Almanac for October 28th. There's more online at IowaAlmanac.com. Until tomorrow, I'm Jeff Stein.